No more oxygen monitoring

While we were visiting today the doctor said he wanted to remove the oxygen monitor from her foot. This is great progress although I'm a bit apprehensive about the whole thing. These are the numbers that often give us dipping trouble. When a dip is happening my eyes are glued to the monitor waiting for her to come out of it. It's always followed by a visit from a nurse checking on Veda, which is when they have to remind me every single time to look at my baby and not the monitor. By looking at Veda I should be able to tell if she's okay by her color and breathing. They probably got tired of telling me to stop looking at it so they decided to take it away all together. What ever helps get me ready I suppose! I'm probably more work for them then Veda is!

She took 2 full bottles last night and almost a full bottle for me today. She just gets so tuckered out, but she's almost there. She's up to 5lbs 5 ounces!!

6 weeks, 5 pounds and mommy's back!

I was out a total of 5 days, finally heading back to the hospital on Wednesday. That was the quickest I've ever bounced back from a cold. It seems the carrot juice, honey and steam really did the trick! I feel like a million bucks! Deep down I was hoping by the time I made it back to the hospital Veda would be sitting up and saying mama, and ready to come home. But it's business as usual. She is doing great though! She's up to 5lbs 2 ounces, which seemed so far out of reach only a few weeks ago. So far she's only been able to get down one full bottle, the rest have been partials with the remainder going through her feeding tube. Her breathing issues are usually during her feedings, leaving the rest of the day pretty quite. I think she'll get it any day now. Yesterday was her 6 week birthday!

Our friend Winde sent us some great head wear. She's sporting one of her new headbands in the pictures above.

Open Crib and bottle feeding!

Veda has been moved to an open crib since Thursday. As long as she keeps up her body temp. she can stay there, and so far so good. I just spoke with the doctor this morning and she has taken 2 full bottle feedings in the last 24 hours which is fantastic at her age! He also mentioned that her acid reflux is getting better as well.

I haven't been able to go up to the hospital since Thursday because I've been sick, and it's very depressing. I've been trying every home remedy to hurry this illness along so that I can get back up there but it's probably going to be another few days - UGH! So I wasn't there when the physical therapist looked Veda over, but was told everything looked good. The only thing noted was the shape of her head. I guess the sides of her head are slightly flat due to the way she's positioned. Preemies are often left on their sides and stomach which causes this problem. They'll teach us how to prepare a halo for her head while she sleeps, when she comes home. How appropriate for our little angel, ahhh.

Her heart murmur is still audible which leads them to believe it may not close. They will do a final ecco on her heart at the time of discharge to take a look at it. If it remains open we'll need to do follow up treatment when we are home. If it remains asymptomatic, which it has so far, it could be possible to avoid surgery and opt for a less stressful procedure that is offered to babies weighing at least 10lbs. Speaking of 10 lbs, our little growing Veda is now a whopping 4 lbs 12 oz!!! She has come so far!

I think that Andy has been secretly enjoying his alone time with Veda. I heard him call the nurse yesterday to tell her he wanted to give Veda a bath during his visit. When he had the nurse on the phone he referred to himself as "hi, this is Veda's daddy", I just thought it was so cute! I'm not sure if it was the use of daddy or the sweet little voice he was using, but it was pretty cute. He's been bottle feeding her and getting lots of pictures, although I've yet to see them because the camera has been at the hospital!

Hopefully I'll be back up there soon!!

Veda is over 4lbs!

Veda now weighs an impressive 4lbs 4 ounces! It may be coming on a little too quickly now and it's showing in her little hands and feet, as they're a bit puffy. The doctor is going to hold off on increasing her food intake for now. He doesn't hear any liquid in her lungs and so it appears to just be a little water retention. She had a little sodium added to her diet when she was experiencing the weight loss, so this could be a little side effect to that.

I'll be spending more time at the hospital so that I can help Veda with her bottle feedings. They want to get her moving in that direction and it looks like she just may be up for it. The quicker she can get the hang of it the quicker we'll be able to get her home. She'll be 34 weeks on Friday and they say between 34 and 35 weeks preemies really start showing great strength. It's been pretty incredible so far seeing what can happen in a weeks time. Within the next two weeks we want her to master her feedings, be able to hold her temperature in an open crib and be over 5 lbs (the weight milestone is for me - it has nothing to do with her being discharged).

We'll be meeting with a physical therapist on Friday to check her motor skills. I'll be sure to post how that one goes!

Veda's little bath time...

more pictures

Thanks for the new hat Gina!!!

This is currently where Veda calls home. The monitor in the left corner is what keeps me on pins and needles.

Happy 4 week birthday Veda (tomorrow)

I'd like to first say thank you to my work - Rose City Mortgage, for the great baby mama party! Also, thank you to Meggan and Molly and everyone who came to the bash last weekend. It was so much fun and so great to see everyone. Veda's a lucky girl to have so many wonderful people in her life (I'm pretty lucky too!!!)


I have some interesting news to report regarding Veda's weight. It turns out that she gained a ton of weight literally overnight. I went in on Tuesday to find out that she was up to 3lbs 13 ounces! This is a huge weight gain and it left me a little suspicious, so I had them weigh her again while I was there. The weight was confirmed with the second weigh in so I requested one final test, I had them weigh something on another scale and then on our scale to make sure it was working correctly. It turns out that she has in fact gained that much weight! I expected some sort of loss today, but she is currently maintaining the 3lb 13 ounces, so hopefully her yo-yo dieting is a thing of the past!


We attempted her first massage Monday night (maybe that helped with the weight gain - who knows!), it went pretty well, although she began to get a little pooped out half way through it so we'll have to try again later.

Either I would forget my camera, or I'd remember my camera but forget the battery the last few visits, very frustrating!! Finally, I've got my act together and have some new photos...











Looks like those added ounces are giving her quite the potbelly :)

Go Veda Go!

The past few days have been great - I hope this will be the new trend! Veda is back up in her weight. She weighed in last night at 3lbs 4 ounces, what a relief. Looks like going back on the cannula was a good thing. She was probably wearing herself out trying to keep up her breathing. Now she can relax a bit and let the pounds come on. They'll give the removal another try once she's beefed up a bit.

We've been up to all kinds of stuff these past few days. I gave Veda her first bath and she loved it! Well, she loved the hair washing part at least. When I was done scrubbing her down in the little bath tub, I swaddled her up and put her head under the sink faucet and washed away. She was all bright eyed and happy. Andy and I are scheduled to do another one on Sunday, with the two of us there we should be able to snap some pictures.

We also took an infant massage class this week. This is going to be alot of fun to do with her. And it sounds like there are so many benefits to this. We'll start these on Veda Monday!

Roller Coaster part 2

I thought I should post the good news I got from the doctor this morning. Veda is back to packing it on. She has come off her losing streak and put back on an ounce. Thank goodness!

Keep up the prayers - I know they're working. Maybe throw one in for her mommy too!

I'll get some new pictures tonight when I go up for my visit.

The Roller Coaster...

I'll be honest, the last few visits have not been easy. My anxiety level has been through the roof! Veda's been having a hard time keeping her oxygen levels up and I've actually had to watch her turn blue a few times. I came in this morning to find that she was put back on the cannula which is giving her air flow again. I hate to see her back on it, but I hate even more to see her struggle to get a good breath. And unfortunately there's more, she's also lost a couple of ounces and is now back down to 3lbs. They've increased her food intake, and the doctor doesn't seem too fazed by the loss, so I'll try not to focus on it either.

I've been told over and over that this is all typical stuff for a premature baby. She still has alot of developing to do. I'd just like to push the fast forward button.

May Veda grow to be big and strong like the Fasulo brothers, who also entered this world at the 2lb range! She can do it!

xoxo,
jamie

Another tube GONE!

I came in yesterday to find Veda's pic line and IV removed! This means she is 100% on milk - plus a little fortifier to add calories. I'm so glad to see this one gone as the pic line seemed very invasive. The only tube left is her feeding tube and this typically doesn't come out until she's ready to come home.

She is up to 3lbs 3ounces so she's moving right along.

BTW - she is yawning in the picture above not crying :)